Conquer - Callie's TED talk
by J. M. Flowers
Summary: A continuation of the speech. Only explicit in medical jargon and cartilage research.


**AN: **I really have no practical understanding of the medical field, but I am so very interested in orthopedics and bones in general. So, after watching the latest episode, I spent an hour reading a medical journal on Articular Cartilage and then wrote my version of Callie's altered speech. Which then turned into... this.

Mucho thank yous to Janay, who double checked my medical stuff for me; Ale, who pushed me to do this; and Cassandra, who's just pretty rad in general.

* * *

**Conquer**

All she seems to be aware of is the camera, staring her down. With its big lens and live feed to TED where even more eyes are watching her and listening to her and - oh god, it's being recorded. It will be on the internet, for even more people to see. Thousands of people. Millions, maybe.

And there's a microphone, too. She toys with the idea of vomiting, imaging that becoming a YouTube hit: Orthopedic Surgeon Blows Chunks. She'd be a laughing stock, maybe even more than she'll be after fumbling through her flashcards while she tries to read her crappy speech.

Because Arizona was right; it is a terrible speech and they both know it. Everyone's about to know it. And then they'll think she's a terrible surgeon and her whole career will be done. No one will ever stand behind Articular Cartilage Regeneration after she speaks.

"Hi," she starts, clutching her stupid, little purple cards. "I'm Dr. Callie Torres and..."

But when she finally pulls her gaze away from the camera - the big, black, menacing camera with its thousands of eyes - her wife is there. Wonderful, amazing Arizona, who's conquered even bigger hurdles than a TED talk. Who lost her leg and somehow still stood for ten hours in the operating room. Who went down on her just that morning, easily tossing her prosthesis aside so she could get her mouth around her -

No, that wasn't helping. She had to go back, to the conquering. Hurdles.

_ Just be who you are_.

"I've had a pretty bad year," she begins, putting her flashcards down on the conference table. "I was almost killed in a car wreck, then I nearly lost my wife in an accident that claimed the life of my best friend and the father of my child. And some other stuff..."

They'd conquered everything. Together, they'd put their lives back together. Like cartilage would put bones back together...

"I'm an orthopedic surgeon by trade... And I work with cartilage. So, I've spent a lot of time thinking about what holds us together when things fall apart."

She chances a look back up at Arizona, their eyes connecting. Her wife's mouth tilts into that little smirk of hers - the proud look. The supportive look. She's doing okay. She tries to remember her first flash card: tell the people what you're talking about.

"Articular cartilage is smooth, white tissue that covers our bones where they meet and form joints. It makes it easier to move, allowing bones to glide over each other with very little friction.

"But cartilage can be damaged; by time, by injuries. It makes movement painful, and often unbearable. We see cartilage damage in meniscal or ligament tears of athletes in their teens; in women who have lifted children and grandchildren onto their hips for decades. There is no age limit when it comes to cartilage damage."

Her second flashcard: treatment methods. She chances another look at her wife and she's beaming. Bright, beautiful, conquering Arizona. She can keep going.

"But there is an age limit for current treatment methods. Some of them are long, lengthy procedures - forms of treatment that keep patients in the hospital for weeks at a time. And they're all recommended for young patients, people with single lesions and young, healthy bones. That doesn't account for most of the people suffering with cartilage damage. I think it accounts for less than half of the patients I treat."

Her third flashcard: she'd read this one just this morning, when Arizona had taken off her clothes and helped her imagine an audience naked instead. It was about introducing her concept.

"Articular Cartilage Regeneration offers new hope for patients who've been suffering. Instead of living with a knee that is painful to bend, we would be able to perform a simple, non-invasive procedure. Unlike the Microfracture Technique - where the damaged cartilage is stripped away and an awl - that's a tool we use in surgery - an awl is used to make holes in the bone in the hope that a new blood supply will result in new, healthy cartilage cells..."

Oh god, she's rambling. She's messing this all up already, and she was doing so well. She looks to Arizona again, pleading for a bit of strength. Arizona nods, smiling wide, urging her to continue.

_You can do this, _she mouths, _Just talk._

Just talk.

"Instead of using the Microfracture Technique, treatment would be as simple as an injection into the affected joint.

"Years ago, before all that bad stuff happened, I worked on making cartilage from scratch. Like, in a lab. And I did it. And that's why, today, I can proudly say we are using this research to change the face of Orthopedics. To save knees, and shoulders, and ankles, and... People's lives. To get athletes back on the field and women back to lifting their grandchildren. We're able to put things back together."

And this is her fifth flash card - she rewrote this one three times, trying to get it just right. Explain the procedure.

"We begin by injecting mesenchymal stem cells, which we get from the patient's own bone marrow, into the joint. When stem cells are placed in an environment, they usually result in more cell growth in that area. Almost immediately, we could have patients feeling relief.

"Then, through the assistance of medication, we'd coax the cartilage cells to multiply. By growing the cells within the body, with stem cells from the patient, the possibility of cell rejection is non-existent. And it would happen even faster than it would with an ACI."

She looks to Arizona, seeing her eyebrows raise. Right, she'd given her that note this morning, too: they're not all surgeons. Explain things.

"With an Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation, or an ACI as we call them, the patient is put through two invasive surgeries, with a 3- to 5-week waiting period in between while the cells grow in a lab. But when they're regenerated within the body..."

She pauses, feeling the smile itching at the corners of her mouth. She gives in, letting it fill up her face. She looks to her wife, again, to see an equally large grin on her own face. And on Webber's. Even the guy with the computer is smiling. Maybe the thousands of people are smiling, too.

Oh yea, the people - she's live.

"Within two months, the affected joint would be fully healed. The original injected stem cells would begin as a sort of... barrier, between the bones - preventing the need for removal of the damaged cartilage - and creating a rise in hyaline cartilage growth. The body would be repairing itself.

"With current surgeries, patients only just begin Passive Motion Therapy within the first few weeks following the procedure. With Articular Cartilage Regeneration, patients will be able to move the joint within the first week. They will be able to begin physiotherapy and return home in less than two. Cartilage damage will no longer take over their lives. It will no longer mean a life of pain.

"With Articular Cartilage Regeneration, we'll be able to put things back together. We'll be able to hold people, and their bones, together."

She looks to her wife one, final time. Sees pride welling in her eyes. Sees the wide smile that's now, officially, taken over her face. Sees how she's made it.

"Even when they fall apart," she murmurs. "Thank you."

The conference room fills with the sound of applause - direct from the TED conference, blaring through the speakers. But no one, anywhere, cheers louder than her wife, the conquerer.


End file.
